Benidorm commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Song Festival with a large exhibition in Boca Calvari

Benidorm City Council will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Song Festival with a large exhibition at Museu Boca del Calvari that will serve to recognize "that wonderful initiative that became one of the main promotional strategies of Benidorm to make itself known, as a city and tourist destination, to Spain and the world. " This was announced by the mayor, Toni Pérez, at a press conference in which he reported that the exhibition was opened this Thursday, day 11, at 9:00 pm, coinciding with the anniversary of that first final gala of the festival in which the song 'Un telegrama' was imposed by the García Segura brothers, played by Monna Bell.

Accompanied by the councilor of Historical Heritage, Ana Pellicer, and Juan Díaz, curator of the exhibition '60th anniversary of Benidorm Festival ', the mayor stressed that "of the many pioneering and revolutionary tourism marketing tools that fell into the hands of the architect of tourism and destination, Pedro Zaragoza, the Festival was the highest performance and projection gave the city.

The curator of the show pointed out that in addition to the initiative, the exhibition is also "a recognition" to all those people who "every year for months worked to organize a festival" that "was internationalized in 1964" when broadcasting to eleven countries of Europe and America. By then, all the great composers of melodic and light music of the moment had already passed through the festival, and Raphael had already raised his Little Mermaid as Julio Iglesias would in a few years.

Pérez announced that a replica of "the first Little Siren" will be exhibited among the pieces of the exhibition that was given to the winner of the festival, and that "thanks to the generosity" of the daughters of the sculptor Jacinto Higueras, who have donated it to the City Council. A replica that has been shown today at the press conference, and that has been made from the original mold.

The curator of the exhibition indicated that along with the Little Siren, on the different floors of Museu Boca del Calvari can be seen "the posters of the 39 editions of the festival", "promotional elements" of the same, "photographs", "the discs with the songs "of the contest and" the comics that were made to explain them ". A material that has been obtained from municipal funds and contributions made by individuals and businesses in the city.

Díaz recalled that the Song Festival of Benidorm was "the longest" of those that emerged at that time and the same format, which has been attributed to "the involvement of the people of Benidorm" with an initiative that despite the time past "continues in the memory of all" and that "continues to arouse much interest", as indicated by the mayor. In fact, and according to the curator of the exhibition, in addition to having served as a subject for a doctoral thesis at the University of Lisbon, "there is a book in progress" and even a project to create "a musical".

The exhibition '60th anniversary Benidorm Festival' can be visited until October 20, from Monday to Sunday from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm. To make the experience more interactive, an 'app' will be enabled to listen to the songs of the contest.

Before the official opening of the exhibition, and as a prelude to it, tonight at 9:00 pm the poster of the Festival that has been set up on the facade of the Boca del Calvari Museum will be lighted up.